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Talk:You Got Me/@comment-24493751-20131007214312/@comment-3122348-20131008015010
Suss, I understand completely how you feel, especially in regards to the content mentioned in your second paragraph. The school I currently attend is a selective-entry school, meaning that I had to be academically adept in order to be considered, let alone accepted. I studied my ass off the year before and took the test, hoping that I would actually feel 'at home' in school, with a group of like-minded indivduals who have one ambition: to do well in school and graduate. Honestly, it took me by surprise by how far out of my comfort zone I ended up being in after my first week there. EVERYBODY, and I mean, literally my entire year level cohort was miles ahead in terms of their intellectual capacity and they had already acquired such skills that I hadn't even considered working upon and developing. I felt the need to step up to the chopping board every single time people asked me what my test mark was, how I performed on my oral presentation, what grade the teacher gave me for my assignment. I came from being perhaps one of the advanced students in my old school to one of the most inept students in a school of bright students. It really did take a toll on my self-esteem, as expected because there was a drastic change in learning abilities and the standard was set SO much higher, that I felt I was playing catch-up the entire time in my classes. It doesn't matter how many awards, certificates or trophies you are granted in your high schooling year, let alone your life. Comparing yourself to the brightest and smartest students in your classes will either completely tarnish your self-concept or encourage you to work harder and aspire to reach their standards - it's not worth the gamble in my eyes since there's a 50% chance of ending up either depressed and unsatisfied with your results and progress. I personally value school and education as one of the most important things in my life, if not, the one inatimate thing I refuse to part with - without it, I don't think I would be the person I am today. Take your education and learning into your own hands, because that is the ''only ''way you will be truly content with yourself. There is absolutely no need to compare a grade of your's to the most overachieving person in your class. I can tell you from firsthand experience that you will feel worse about yourself and set extreme standards which are virtually impossible to achieve. As long as you know that you have excelled in an area which you previously didn't, I think that's more than enough to gain some ounce of self-respect and confidence back. We don't all need 100%'s to be truly satisfied, and as much as I like duh A+, getting duh A isn't a bad thing. Not suggesting you are, but in this example, If you're not a straight-A student, and are instead a straight-C student, make small baby steps to eventually reach that standard. You got a 70% in a maths test? Oh well, next time work to achieve a 75%, and then an 80%, 85% etc. I was, believe it or not, a terrible student in my primary schooling years and it took a lot of hardwork, motivation and enthusiasm from both myself and my parents to persuade me to take control of my learning habits and realise the importance of education. I'm not suggesting that education has to be the most important and valued thing in your life, but given that you have felt beaten down as a result of drawing comparisons between yourself and other students, I think it is important to remember that your progress as a student isn't determined by the progress of your classmates - it's looking back and reflecting upon how far you've come since kindergarten and looking at, what hopefully is an exponential growth in knowledge that you've accumulated over the years.